St George Illawarra agree to pay Tigers compensation for their former five-eighth.
St George Illawarra fans will get to see Benji Marshall in the famous Red V for the first time this weekend, after the club reached an agreement with the Wests Tigers today.
Marshall’s contract has not officially been registered with the NRL paving the way for his return to the code that made him a household name.
However, Dragons fans were left wondering if Marshall would be left on the sidelines for several weeks, as his former club Wests Tigers and his, hopefully, soon to be new one negotiated the terms of competition tune to the tune of around $200,000.
Marshall has a stipulation written into his contract when he left the Tigers for his failed stint with the Auckland Blues in Super Rugby, that stated any NRL club that wanted to sign him, needed to pay the Tigers compensation.
After both parties jostled for several days this week, Marshall was given the green light to return to active duty, with coach Steve Price giving a strong indication he will slot straight into the side alongside Gareth Widdop in the halves.
“The coaching and performance staff are satisfied that Benji is fit to return to the NRL,” said Price.
“Benji has ticked all the boxes this week and is very keen to get back out on the field and play.
“He has trained well and fitted in really well with the group and we know that he will only get better as the weeks go by and he gets more rugby league training and games under his belt but we are looking forward to having him as a part of our team tomorrow”.
Tiger CEO Grant Meyer said that despite the delay in rubber-stamping Marshall’s return, the talks were always friendly.
“I’d like to thank Peter (Doust) for his willingness to work with Wests Tigers to reach an agreement that was acceptable for both clubs,” said Mayer.
“First and foremost Wests Tigers are very happy that Benji is back in the NRL and look forward to seeing him play for the Dragons.
“The agreement we’ve reached with the Dragons is not onerous or over the top, and we believe is a fair commercial set of terms for a marquee player such as Benji to be taking to the field for a rival club.”
COMMENTS